To develop an innovative mechanism to deliver a coordinated program of mental-physical-social supports to the mentally frail urban elderly in order to enhance their ability to remain independently in the community; 2) to evaluate the effectiveness of the model and determine whether it can, in fact, attract, retain and serve the mentally frail elderly; 3) to derive a typology of mental impairment with distinguishable psychological, social and behavioral correlates, differential etiologies and courses leading to different mental health diagnoses and plans. The model envisions an unstructured neighborhood center with extensive outreach, an array of immediately available social/health services, and back-up from a major municipal hospital and voluntary social agency. Base-line data for evaluation and typology will be derived from evaluation records of 700 elderly persons referred as mentally disturbed to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital's Geriatric Unit and from data collected by the Office for the Aging for a probability sample of older persons living in poverty areas (n equals 1552). Identical mental and social functioning evaluations will be made for a sample of project center attendees as well as for 2 control groups: a traditional Senior Center sample and a community sample from the project neighborhood. Initial profiles and year-end follow-ups for these populations will be compared in order to determine whether the proposed model prevents or delays institutionalization.